A Texas Kind of Christmas

by Jodi Thomas

  He waited as the men closed in. Now two rifles were pointed at him. They were all hard men. He knew the type well; Cody was part of the tribe. The short leader stepped between two of his men. He wore a badge and his intelligent gaze took in everything around him.

  “What’s the trouble, gentlemen?” Cody asked when they were ten feet away.

  “Raise your hands or you’re a dead man,” the man with the rifle shouted.

  Cody slowly lifted his hands. “I’m former Captain Cody Lamar. I have a ranch half a day’s ride from here.” When the men didn’t lower their guns, he lowered his voice. “I fought with Zachary Taylor in forty-six on the border. I was with Grant and Quitman’s Fourth Division at the Battle for Mexico City. I watched the treaty signed when the war with Mexico ended. So if you boys think I’m going to back down, you’ve got another think coming.”

  Both men lowered their weapons. The man with the badge was the only one to take one step forward. “I’m Sheriff Wilson from Fort Worth. Me and a few of my boys came in to make sure all is calm tonight.” He hesitated, then added, “Nice to meet you, Captain Lamar. I’ve heard a great deal about you.”

  Both men nodded once and Cody lowered his hands. “What’s the problem? You men don’t look like you just happened to drop by the party to dance.”

  The sheriff grinned. “A young woman is missing. Her father fears she’s been kidnapped.”

  “What does she look like?”

  “Don’t rightly know, Captain Lamar. Her stepmother said she’s wearing a pink dress with ribbons hanging off. I’ve heard said that she’s on the plain side and so shy she hides away from folks, but Harry Hartman wants her found. Some marshal claims there is an outlaw loose tonight. Thinks he’s the one who kidnapped the girl.”

  Cody looked down at Katie. She was wrapped up in his coat. Her big eyes looked up at him.

  Cody never lied. “I haven’t seen a soul for quite a while. Miss Katie and I have been enjoying a visit.”

  The sheriff tipped his hat. “Nice to meet you, Miss. I’ve seen you in church, I believe. You are a local.”

  Katie nodded once as she’d seen Cody do. “I saw Miss Jacqueline before the ball started. I helped her dress. She wore a blue velvet dress when she went down early to the ball, not pink.” Katie grinned. “She said there would be hell to pay when her stepmother noticed she was not wearing the pink.”

  “Thank you. That will help us a great deal.”

  “I’ll see that Katie gets home safe, Sheriff, then I’ll join the search. The Hartmans are my neighbors. If Miss Jacqueline is being held against her will, we need to find her fast.”

  “Much obliged. Most of the men at the ball either didn’t want to leave or were too drunk to be of any help.” The sheriff motioned for the men to follow him and without a word the small band moved on down the street.

  Cody turned to Katie. “I’d better see you home. I think it would be wise to keep my coat on until you’re out of sight. If you are not Jacqueline Hartman, want to tell me why you’re wearing her dress?”

  “She hated it.” Katie raised her chin. “She gave it to me. I’m no one, Mr. Lamar. I tried to tell you that. I’m not important. I’m one of those invisible people no one ever sees.”

  Cody looked down, not knowing how to answer. Part of him was glad she wasn’t Hartman’s daughter. He wanted to tell her that she was so much more to him, but he’d spent so many years being hard and cold to the world. The possibility that he could care, maybe even love, was too new for him to absorb. He stared down at the fire.

  His coat suddenly slapped against his shoulder. When he looked up, the fairy was running across the street so fast she seemed to be flying.

  When he turned to follow, she’d already vanished in the darkness between the lights of the hotel and the fire’s glow beside him. He thought he heard the clank of the garden gate and knew she was out of his life, not just his sight. By the time he reached the back door of the hotel, there was no sign of her.

  Katie. His Katie had vanished as quickly as she’d appeared, and he didn’t even know how to find her.

  Cody stepped into the back of the hotel where hallways led off in three directions. He picked the one lit and walked back into the kitchen. The chubby cook was still there.

  “You see a woman rush by here in a pink dress with ribbons?”

  The cook laughed. “I wish I had. Hartman offered a hundred-dollar reward for anyone who finds that daughter of his and another hundred to any man who kills the outlaw who took her.”

  “No.” Cody stopped. How could he explain? The woman wearing the pink dress was not Hartman’s daughter. She was his Katie.

  Or was she? Maybe a moment in passing was all they’d shared. Nothing more. How could he explain that he didn’t care who she was? He only cared that she might be willing someday to be his.

  Chapter 9

  Katie ran up the back stairs, leaving a trail of muddy footprints. When she reached the third floor, she stripped off her shoes. Her quarters were in the attic above, but she had to leave the pink dress where she’d picked it up.

  No one was around. All the servants were downstairs working.

  Without hesitation, she slipped into Jacqueline’s room. She retrieved her uniform and rushed to the dressing room. There, finally alone and safe, she held the dress up to her one last time.

  All she’d wanted to do was pretend for an hour. Mrs. Cockrell had told all the staff to stagger their times but take an hour break once all was set up because they’d been working before dawn and their shifts probably wouldn’t end until long after the party was over.

  Katie had decided that no one would miss her if she took a little time off. No one would notice if she wore the fancy dress and pretended in the garden that she was dancing at a fine party. Only someone had noticed. Cody Lamar. If he told anyone, she could be fired. She had to erase all signs of what she’d done. The dress, the shoes, the memory.

  In a few years she’d move into middle age, probably be in charge of a floor or even become the head housekeeper. She’d grow old in service. Taking care of strangers who often didn’t bother to learn her name.

  She looked at her reflection as she held the dress in front of her. It was ruined now. The run she’d made had splashed mud almost to her knees. Her evening had ended. The pretending was over.

  Slowly she washed and dressed in her black-and-white uniform. She wrapped her hair in her cover. When she looked back at her reflection, she saw a maid, not a fairy, not a lady, not a woman a man like Cody Lamar would even notice.

  Slowly she folded the pink dress and put it in one of the laundry bags along with the pink slippers covered in mud. It was time to get back to work. She put on her black socks and tied the laces of her worn black shoes. Then she strapped on the leather band that held a small sheath for an old six-inch kitchen knife. Her worries and fears returned.

  The last time Marshal Calaber had stayed at the hotel, he’d gone too far. The first time he’d teased her, chased her, and forced a kiss. But the last time, he’d been angry when he walked into the hotel and decided to take it out on her. A kiss was not enough. He needed to prove he had the power. He’d hurt her and she swore she wouldn’t let him do what he did ever again. Six inches of blade would reach his heart.

  She lifted the knife and slid it into its hiding place. Why couldn’t she have met a man like Cody before she’d been damaged by the marshal?

  When she turned back to the mirror, Katie barely recognized herself. The tall man who’d thought she was a fairy wouldn’t even know her now if she walked right by him.

  She didn’t want him to see her like this. Angry, broken. Even if she was simply a memory, at least to Cody she wanted to be a good memory.

  Chapter 10

  Jacqueline woke to the music drifting up from two floors below. She felt warm and content in her hideaway between the trunks. A heart beat next to hers. Without thinking about it, she closed the distance between them and brushed her lips across hi
s.

  When Nate didn’t move, she pressed harder, tasting his lips with the tip of her tongue. Boldly her hand moved over his heart. “I have your heart in my hand,” she whispered against his ear.

  Nate opened one eye and grinned. “What are you doing, my littlebird?”

  “I’m making love to you while you dream,” she answered.

  He reacted to her next kiss, deepening it ever so slightly. When she finally pulled away, he whispered, “There is more to making love than kissing.”

  “Teach me,” she answered, and kissed him again.

  “My shy lady grows bold.” He shifted her shoulders so he could cradle her in his arms. His kiss lingered for a moment, then turned real. She felt passion run through her veins and when she moved to be closer, he pushed her gently away with his hand covering the velvet over her breast. “Easy, now. This isn’t something we have to hurry.”

  “But, I think I love you.” She couldn’t hold in her feelings any longer.

  “I feel the same, but there are secrets between us. Things you have to know about me.” He laughed without humor. “I must be the biggest idiot in the world. Making love to you would be heaven and I’m hesitating. But, it wouldn’t be fair. It wouldn’t be right, if you didn’t know me.”

  She pulled away, pushing against his heart as she straightened. “You’re right. There are secrets but you have to hold me while I tell you mine first. Promise you won’t let go. Promise you won’t turn away.”

  “I promise.” He gently circled her throat with his fingers and pulled her close so he could kiss her cheek. “I’ll not let go.”

  Jacqueline began to tell him of her life. The death of her mother. His father’s coldness. Her stepmother’s cruelty. Her plan to run away. “I’ve saved enough money to be able to travel for a while and that is exactly what I plan to do.”

  Nate kept his word. He never pulled away. He never stopped touching her.

  Finally she told him the most embarrassing thing of all. “I’m to be given away to anyone who’ll take me. My father was so afraid no man would offer he’s sweetening the deal with land and cattle. If a man will walk me down the aisle, he’ll win the prize. Not me, but land and cattle.”

  She straightened again and closed her eyes, but his hand never pulled away. She couldn’t look at him. “I’m worthless. No one wants just me.”

  After a long pause, Nate answered, “That’s not true. I want you. The girl who makes up stories. My pretty lady of the shadows. I see you. Nothing but you, dear one.” He brushed his fingers over her hair. “I want to thread my hand through your hair while you sleep. I want to kiss you at sunrise and sunset. I want to talk to you until we both fall asleep in mid-sentence.” He moved his hands over her bare shoulders and shoved the velvet lower down her arms, baring more of her breasts. “I want to steal your breath with my touch.” His hand pushed the velvet lower until his fingers cupped around her.

  She leaned back, letting him do just what he said he would; he took her breath away.

  “Don’t move. Don’t open your eyes. Just feel.” His kiss drifted down her throat and she realized she couldn’t form words. She couldn’t think. All her world was his now.

  “I’ll always be with you if only as a memory one day. Promise me you’ll remember my touch. No matter what happens, just close your eyes and think of me touching you.” He kissed her then and pulled her down beside him.

  She floated on emotions she’d never felt, drifting with his embrace, tasting his passion. Loving how he treasured her.

  He must have heard the rattle of the doorknob turning a moment before she did. Nate straightened, leaving her with a sudden chill.

  “Remember,” he whispered. “I love you. I always will. No matter what.”

  A lantern’s glow flashed light into her hideaway. Their time together was over. If she could run back in time she would. She’d hold Nate tight and never let go.

  As she straightened her dress, she realized he hadn’t told her his story. He hadn’t seen her except in shadows. There was far too much left unsaid.

  The lantern swung wildly as men rushed into the room toward them. She heard one cuss as he stumbled over a hatbox. Other than Nate, her only defenses were empty trunks and fancy round boxes.

  Nate stepped in front of her as if trying to draw them away from their private corner, but the first two men caught him and jerked him forward. A moment later light filled the corner where they’d felt safe.

  She bit into her hand, trying to keep from screaming as men surrounded her.

  “Are you Jacqueline Hartman?” a low voice said almost calmly as if he was talking to a child.

  “I am.”

  “Are you hurt, Miss?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  The short man’s words came harder. “Did this man harm you?”

  She couldn’t answer. Panic was washing over her in a tidal wave. The two men who had grabbed Nate began to pull him toward the door.

  Nate fought back like a wild man but both men held his arms tight while another slammed a fist in his gut and mumbled something about Nate better not be any trouble or they’d have to carry out a dead man.

  Before Nate could say a word, the butt of a rifle slammed against his head. Blood splattered across his dark hair.

  Jacqueline finally screamed as they dragged his limp body over the trunks.

  “It’s all right, Miss,” the low voice came again. “You’re safe now. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

  Anger, like she’d never known, built inside her. “He wasn’t hurting me. He would never hurt me.”

  The men were not listening. The small man, barely as tall as she was, put his arm around her shoulder and guided her out. “She’s been assaulted,” he announced calmly. “The young lady is hysterical.”

  One of the men who’d bowed politely at her turned around and kicked Nate’s unconscious body.

  “No,” she cried. “Stop.”

  The little man patted her hand. “Don’t think about him, Miss. You’ll never see him again. He’ll be dead by morning.” The sheriff turned to his deputies. “Take him out the back way. We don’t want to interrupt the party downstairs.” He glanced at a bellboy standing in the hallway. “Go tell Hartman that we found his daughter and she’s fine. A father shouldn’t have to worry over anything else so say nothing about a man being with her.”

  The bellboy met her gaze for only a second but she saw the sadness in his eyes. The pity.

  The deputy next to Sam shook his head and whispered, “She ain’t fine. Look at her. The poor thing’s eyes look wild and crazy. There’s no telling the hell she’s had to suffer.”

  Sam turned away and ran to do his errand.

  Other men mumbled but Jacqueline was finished with listening. If they didn’t hear her, she would no longer hear them.

  She looked down at her wrinkled blue dress. The sleeve had ripped when she’d jerked it up moments ago. They wouldn’t understand. This had been her mother’s dress. “I need to go to my room.”

  “Of course.” The sheriff’s voice had remained the same low tone, as if he’d seen so much in his job that nothing affected him. “I’ll have the maid help you.”

  He walked her down the hallway to her room. At the door, he said, “I’m sorry, Miss, but don’t you worry, we’ll make sure this outlaw pays for what he did to you. I’ll leave a guard at your door, making sure no one gets in but your maid.”

  “Including my stepmother?”

  “If you wish.”

  She wanted to scream that all Nate had done was make her love him, but she knew no one would hear her. As she stepped into her room she heard Katie pushing her way through the men.

  As soon as Katie was in she closed and locked the door, then without a word she wrapped her arms around Jacqueline and hugged her.

  Jacqueline cried so hard her chest ached. Not because she was hurt or embarrassed, but because she knew she’d never see Nate again.

  Then she remembered a story h
e’d told about dying in her arms. She’d said she would save him, yet when he’d been attacked she’d done nothing but whimper.

  The tears stopped. That was exactly what she had to do and fast. Stop being shy and invisible. She had to save Nate.

  Pulling away from Katie, she asked, “Will you help me change?”

  The maid looked surprised. “Of course. I’ll get your nightgown and robe.”

  “No.” Jacqueline shoved the last of her tears off her cheeks. “I’ll need my travel clothes.” Her plan was simple. She’d break into the jail, free Nate, and they’d ride away.

  The maid had been well trained. Never question a guest. Katie moved to the small dressing room and went to work.

  She lit the small stove to heat water for washing, then helped Jacqueline remove her beautiful dress.

  “Katie, can I tell you something?”

  “Of course, Miss.”

  “I wasn’t kidnapped. Nothing bad happened to me except I had a wonderful evening with a loveable man. Father would say he wasn’t of my station, but he was perfect for me.”

  “I believe you, Miss. In fact, I know how you feel. I wore your dress and met your neighbor Cody Lamar. He didn’t look like much in his worn black suit and muddy boots but he’s a fine man. When he learns I’m nobody, just a maid, he probably won’t speak to me again.”

  “I think I talked to him at the ball for a minute. In his case clothes didn’t make the man. I fear you judge him too harshly. I’ve never heard my father say a single bad word about the man.”

  As Jacqueline dressed, they talked, not as maid and guest, but as two women finding love for the first time.

  “Braid my hair, would you, Katie? If my plan works I’ll be an outlaw before dawn.”

  “I can’t imagine you ever doing something so wild.”

  “Maybe it’s time. I’ve spent my life dreaming about adventures.”

  Before she could slip into her riding clothes, someone pounded on the door.

  “Jacqueline, you open this door or I’ll break it down right now!”